As my family and I rolled up Raton pass, our beloved 89VW Westfalia slowed to a crawl and finally died. After a call to AAA, Pete Sintas from Triple O Auto showed up to give us a tow. I had planned to be towed to Pueblo Colo, about 100 miles away as there was a VW shop there that knew vanagons well and I am picky about who works on «Stanley». Pete had a tow truck with a single cab so there was no way we could all safely fit into his truck. Pete stuck with us though and tried very hard to get AAA to pay for his daughter to drive a second vehicle to Pueblo but AAA said no. As it was getting late n the day, Pete helped us get back down to Raton and mentioned that it sounded like a bad fuel pump. I asked about a shop in town and he said he could do it but didn’t mention this before as we already had a shop picked out. He was able to order the fuel pump and have it early the next morning. The next day, he started working and said that since it was an inline pump they rarely have problems so he would try the fuel filter first to save us time and money. Unfortunately, this was not he problem but he determined that the catalytic converter was clogged. He was able to remove a plug before the Cat so the van would run well enough for us to get around town while new one was overnighted to his shop. The next day Pete got the new exhaust installed while missing his sons Halloween parade(which we only found out about from his mother who stopped by to see if he was going). Pete spent a great deal of time helping us get back on the road so we could get home by the weekend. I highly recommend Pete and if he towes you, he can also fix you up and get you back on the road. A very nice guy and honest as well.
Tom F.
Place rating: 5 Lewisville, TX
I pulled into Raton last Sunday on my way back to Texas from a concert I had the night before in Colorado Springs. I saw my power steering fluid was leaking and so I called my mechanic /good friend in Dallas, sent him pictures on my iPhone. He said it was most likely a bad power steering fluid pump. I had to wait until the next day to get it fixed since nothing was open on Sunday. I knew I could really get screwed as I was basically in the middle of nowhere. Triple O Auto happens to be the Triple A towing service in Raton so when I called them to tow me, I asked if they could possibly fix it as well. Pete, the owner, came to my motel and looked at the vehicle and said he thought that the power steering pump might be bad. «However», he said, «hopefully it’s just the hose.» That was my first clue he was honest. Since my truck was in front of the Super 8 office, the manager could see what was happening. When I went to check out of there motel, out of the blue, the manager at the desk said, «Hey, by the way, I know you’re not from here. I’ve known Pete for years… he’s really good and he’s honest as well.» We went to his shop where he pulled the pump off and determined that the pump was bad. They didn’t have a pump in Raton so he actually got his kind daughter to drive me 17 miles each way to Trinidad to get a new pump while he pulled off the old one. My total bill was $ 167.00 to remove the old one and install a new one. My mechanic said that was a very fair price for that procedure. I was so impressed by his work and ethics I promised Pete I would write a review on some page when I got home…
